Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Year 1
by Zchocolatebunniesrulezworld
Summary: The first year of the Marauders! First in a 7 part series,you know, one fic for each year of Hogwarts, will eventually contain RLSB slash, and JPLE
1. The Letters

**A/N**: Ummm… Not really sure what to say here, except, REVIEW! And this is my first fanfic, just to let you know. Oh yeah, and there won't be any Remus/Sirius slash until later stories, like 5th year or so.

**Disclaimer:** Yes, you found me. I'm JK Rowling in disguise, writing fanfiction. Just kidding, if I really had written Harry Potter, then I'd be publishing this and making millions! Ah, well…

**Warning: **This fic does not contain slash, but future ones will, so be warned!

**Chapter 1: The Letters**

On Saturday, August 15th, 1971, a regal-looking brown owl could be seen flying towards a tiny house ten miles away from London around noontime. If one looked close enough, they would see a letter tied to its leg. If one had supervision, they would be able to read that it was addressed to a Remus John Lupin.

In the house that the owl was heading toward, Remus Lupin was lying on his bed trying to read an old battered copy of _Spellman's Sylabarry _by Grathamia Vinglehot. Yes, it is a very advanced textbook for an 11-year-old wizard, but Remus is an extremely intelligent boy.

Remus was small and thin for his age, with pale skin, golden-brown hair, and beautiful amber eyes. Scars, cuts, and bruises ran up and down his frail body, most of them hidden by his Muggle clothing.

Currently he was looking at the book, but not seeing it, immersed in depressing thoughts about his future. No sane headmaster would accept him at their school because of what he was. His mum would have to home-school him on the wizard subjects of potions, herbology, transfiguation, defense against the dark arts, and all the other subjects taught at wizard schools. It would be nigh impossible for him to get a job. He desperately wanted to be an Auror, to fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but he wouldn't have enough talent for it. Even if he was qualified, he wouldn't be hired. No one would trust him

No one would trust a werewolf.

For Remus John Lupin was a werewolf, bitten at the age of six by Fenrir Greyback. His father had not taken kindly to his son becoming_ 'A monster, a horrible freak of nature that doesn't deserve to live' , _and had left them, beating Remus half to death and taking all the money with him. Mum had tried to take care of him as best as she could, but it was torture for her, seeing her son go through this pain once a month, (not that she actually saw it, she just heard the screams from the basement where he was locked up, but that was enough) and trying to heal him after all of the wounds he gave himself as a wolf. The strain was starting to crack her.

Basically, life sucked.

It was just as he slammed the book shut and threw it away from him in fury that the owl shot through Remus's open window, circled around the room twice, and landed on his bed.

_Probably a letter for Mum_, he thought as the owl stretched out its leg, revealing the letter.

_Wait, it's addressed to me! I __never__ get letters. Maybe it's another stupid Ministry law against werewolves again. What is it this time? I'm not allowed to __read_

He knew somebody once had tried to pass that law; he didn't remember why.

As he untied the letter from the owl's leg, Remus saw the seal on the back of the letter and gasped, nearly falling out of bed. _It was the Hogwarts seal! _A lion, a snake, a badger an eagle, and the letter H.

_It must be a mistake,_ Remus thought to himself.

_They can't want me. . . can they? I'm a monster!_

With trembling fingers, he opened the letter and unfolded it. He stared at the first sentence for a full minute before he believed what it said. His jaw dropped.

He shrieked in happiness, and leaped out of bed, dancing for joy.

"Mum! _Muuuuuuuuuuuum!!_" He shouted, wrenching open the door and leaping down the stairs.

"I've been accepted! _I can go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!_"

Now, around this time at number 12 Grimmauld place in London, a boy with dark hair falling to his shoulders and stormy gray eyes was fuming in his room, kicking things and pretending they were his family.

"Take _that,_ Regulus! And _that_! And _that_!" Sirius Black yelled, kicking his bed.

He punched the wall, _hard,_ pretending it was his mother, Walburga Black. Giving up attacking the house, he flung himself onto his bed, replaying the last few minutes in his head.

**FFFFFFLLLLLAAAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHHHHBBBBAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK**

Orion Black slammed his oldest son against the wall, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him furiously.

"_What is wrong with you boy?_" he growled, still shaking Sirius. "_You are an insult to the Black family name!_"

Sirius glanced at Orion's angry face and the sneering faces of his mother and brother in the background.

"Why, thank you dearest father!" Sirius said in a mocking tone, grinning cheekily. "I take that as a compliment."

Orion obviously did not find this amusing. He stopped shaking Sirius and asked in a low, dangerous tone, "Can we not leave you alone with your brother for _twenty minutes_ without you pulling some horrible prank on him?"

"Well, no, you really can't. It's just so _tempting_ to prank him." Sirius replied, hanging his head as if in shame and trying to insert a mournful tone in his voice (though is Orion had looked, his eyes would have given him away; they were dancing with mirth. He didn't need to look, however. Sirius had done this before.)

"And how, if you'll permit me to ask_, father_, am I an insult to our family name?" The mournful tone was gone now, replaced by one filled with hatred.

Orion's voice was much scarier, though. It sounded as if he was about to kill his son.

"You know what I mean.. You speak with_ mudbloods_ and _blood traitors_, you think _werewolves_ and_ vampires_ are not to be despised, and worst of all, you consort with_ Muggles_, beings less than animals. I wouldn't be surprised if you are put in_ Gryffindor_._" _He spat, putting as much contempt as he could into the last word.

Sirius rolled his eyes, a look of utter boredom on his face. "Nor would I. Be surprised, I mean. Do me a favor, and don't write to me when I _do _get into Gryffindor, okay?"

He hadn't actually gotten his letter yet, but he had stolen his parents' wands multiple times to scare his younger brother, so there was no doubt he was magical.

Orion slapped his son across the face. "_If you are in Gryffindor, I swear, you shall regret it!_"

Sirius once again rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Will you let me go now?" he whined, hiding the fear and pain he felt.

Orion shoved Sirius away from him. "Just be glad that what you did to Regulus was reversible and didn't cause any permanent damage."

Sirius was about to make a wisecrack; something along the lines of how Regulus already was permanently messed up, and it would be cruel to damage him farther, when the look on his father's face stopped him. He instead stormed up to his room.

**EEENNNDDFFFLLLLLLAAAAASSSHHHHHHBBBBAAAACCCCCKKK**

"Sirius Black!" his mum screeched. "Get down here now!"

"_Shit,_ _they found the dungbombs,_" Sirius muttered to himself, and crept downstairs.

"I swear, I had nothing to do with it!" he cried to his waiting parents and brother.

"What?" they chorused in unison.

"Errrr…Nothing…" he replied, inwardly cursing his big mouth. "What do you want?"

Walburga shoved a letter into his hand. He only had to look at the seal on the back of the envelope to know that it was his letter for Hogwarts.

"Yes!" he shouted, an ecstatic grin spreading across his face. "I'm finally out of this hellhole!"

Needless to say, more shouting and violence broke out, and for the second time that day, Sirius stormed up to his room, though in considerably lighted spirits than before.

Peter Pettigrew—a completely average wizarding child, with two normal parents, one normal owl, a normal house, in a normal city. With his blonde hair, watery blue eyes, and chubby form, he was exactly like hundreds of wizarding children before him.

But he wanted to be more. He wanted to be _noticed_. He hated the idea of living exactly like everyone else, doing the same things, being so _boring_. He'd do _anything_ to get people to realize he existed.

At the moment, Peter was sitting at the table eating lunch with his mum, dad, and three-year-old brother. His brother, Jack, had just thrown a bowl of soup at Emma, their mum, when a golden-brown owl tapped elegantly on the window.

Peter ran to the window and opened it, allowing the bird to enter the small, wizarding kitchen. What followed was the typical scene of mother's tears, father's last minute advice , and brother's whining that he couldn't go to Hogwarts, too.

It bored Peter to tears.

James Potter yawned as he woke up. He glanced at his WizMirror (a full-length mirror on the wall opposite his bed that James's dad had put a charm on, so that James could see whatever he wanted to see in it if he thought about it), thinking about the time, and received a shock. It was 12:00 pm!

_Wow,_ James thought as he sat up and stretched, looking around for his glasses.

_I really stayed up late last night playing wizard chess with dad—or would it be early?_

It had been 4:45am when James had finally won (although James suspected his father had let him win—Harold Potter had beaten James in the other 102 games they played that night, and James refused to go to bed until he had bested his dad). Normally, they would have been playing Quidditch, James's hobby/obsession, but his dad had broken his arm, rendering him unable to throw the Quaffle. James didn't like chess as much as Quidditch, but it was something to do.

He found his glasses on his bedside table and put them on before dragging himself out of bed and over to the window

"ARGH! The light! It burns!" he cried, squeezing his hazel eyes shut, when, as he opened the window, the noontime sunlight slapped him full in the face. Wait—something else really_ was_ slapping him. He opened his eyes to see a tiny, overeager gold-and-white owl carrying a letter who had flown right into his face. He leapt aside and crashed onto the floor; the owl soaring above his head.

It landed next to him and stuck out its leg. James untied the envelope and ripped it open, accidentally tearing the letter in two in the process. Holding the halves together, he scanned the letter quickly.

"Yes!" he shouted gleefully, leaping up and jumping up and down.

"Yes!" he yelled once more, before running out to the balcony of the Potter mansion and climbing onto the roof, dancing a happy little jig.

"Iiiiii'm going to Hoooooooooooogwarts! Iiiiiiim going to Hooooooooogwarts! Hooray! Hallelujah!"

The neighbors ignored this. It was common of him to pull strange stunts like this. He was a piece of work, that James Potter.

**A/N: So? What did you think? REVIEW or z evil bunnies will find out where you live and **_**eat you alive! **_**I take any kind, even flames (because I'll use them to keep the bunnies warm at night)! SO REVIEW, YOU CRAZYPEOPLES!!**


	2. The Hogwarts Express

**A/N: ARGH! I hate myself sob sob ! I haven't updated in what, a month? THE IDEAS JUST WOULDN'T COME! DON'T KILL ME! But now there's a nice, **_**long**_** chapter that I'm not so sure about. Tell me what you think in a REVIEW. Oh yeah, review responses are at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: Does anyone even read these? Just to see who wastes their time reading the same thing over and over again, whoever just read this needs to leave the words 'MoonyPadfoot4EVA' somewhere in a review (and if you think this is a clever scheme to get reviews, YOU'RE RIGHT!) And I don't own Harry Potter, btw.**

**IMPORTANT! I JUST REALIZED THAT I HAD ANONYMUS REVIEWS DISABLED! I HAVE REENABLED IT, SO ANONYMUS PEOPLE, YOU CAN REVIEW NOW!**

**Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express**

Remus's POV

Remus clung to his mother's hand as they were buffeted through the crowd at King's Cross Station. Getting through was hard for him--the full moon had been three nights ago and the Wolf had hurt himself more than usual. Everyone that bumped into him, or who he was thrust against, caused him pain; especially on his chest where the Wolf had given a long, deep gash that still hurt powerfully, even without anything touching it.

Remus was torn between being thrilled and terrified about going to Hogwarts. Thrilled, of course because he had a chance, a real chance, to get an education. Albus Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts, was one of the very few wizards who did not think of werewolves as monsters, and was willing to let Remus into his school.

Of course, there was always the looming, darkening possibility that someone would discover he was a werewolf. Remus preferred not to think about that, because whenever it occurred to him, he started trembling all over, remembering what his father had done to him when he was six.

There was another thing, too. Remus found it quite ironic.

_I can endure excruciating pain once a month, and the entire Ministry of Magic after my blood._ He thought. _My own father nearly killed me when I was six; I should be fearless!_

But he wasn't. Ever since he had been bitten, Remus's mother had kept him away from other people. Being surrounded by them now, it was all he could do not to run into a corner and curl up in a ball. How he would manage in school, surrounded by other children 24/7, Remus did not know.

When they passed Platform 9, Remus realized something. "Mum?" he asked, "How do we get onto Platform 9 and ¾? It doesn't look like it's there."

"Oh, Remus. I didn't tell you?" Jeanne Lupin's voice was haggard and weary, and it hurt Remus to know that he had caused it to be that way.

"See that wall? Between platforms 9 and10? All you have to do is walk straight through it." She gave a wry smile. "Just be sure the Muggles don't see you; the gateway's charmed so only wizards and witches can go through it, but Muggles don't like people disappearing in front of their eyes, it makes them go mad."

Remus felt skeptical. "So…" he replied slowly, "I have to walk through the wall?"

Jeanne smiled at him. "_I _didn't believe it my first time either—though I'm muggleborn, so it was understandable—had to watch someone else do it first…here, watch that boy." She indicated a tall kid with untidy black hair, hazel eyes, and glasses that kept slipping down the bridge of his nose.

The boy grinned at two adults behind him, presumably his parents. Then he turned around and ambled casually toward the wall, carrying a trunk in one hand and a caged owl in the other.

A large Muggle family momentarily blocked Remus's view of the kid. When they all passed, the boy had disappeared! The two adults walked after him, and this time Remus saw them walk through the wall as if it wasn't even there!

"Believe me now?" Jeanne asked.

Remus nodded mutely, and took his trunk from her. He started walking nervously toward the wall, when a blur raced past him, narrowly missing bowling Remus over.

Remus saw that the blur was another boy, his age, with longish dark hair. He was somehow managing to balance an owl cage on top of his trunk, while holding what appeared to be a gray cactus covered in boils in the other.

"_Sirius Black!_" a tall woman screeched. "Get back here with your brother's mimbulus mimbletonia _now!_"

"Sorry, no can do, see you next summer Mother!" the boy, Sirius, called, before disappearing through the barrier.

The woman stalked off, muttering to herself.

Remus looked around warily, wanting to see what the Muggles' reactions would be to Sirius vanishing. He gaped when nobody showed the slightest hint of response! Wait—that wasn't right. A few families, all with children and large trunks, were smiling at the antics of the boy. He turned to his mum, about to ask what had just happened, but she interrupted him.

"They're charmed so that Muggles can't see them," she stated, tight-lipped.

Remus noted that she said that as if it were a bad thing. His senses were very honed in around the full moon, and he could smell her anger. He shrugged, and turned back to the barrier.

Jeanne had a very important job appointment (she had been fired from the last one, when the wizard who employed her found out her son was a werewolf) and therefore could not come onto the platform with him.

"Bye, mum," Remus said quietly. She hugged him briefly, and murmured into his ear, "Be safe."

Remus turned around and walked through the barrier.

James's POV:

James was jumping up and down on Platform 9 ¾, oblivious to the people staring at him. He had an Invisibility Cloak! _An Invisibility Cloak!_ James's dad had just pulled him aside, given him the Cloak, and told him to 'use it wisely'. Yeah, right. Did Harold Potter have_ any idea_ how many pranks James could pull with this,_ and_ not get caught?(James, being the oblivious eleven-year-old-boy he was, hadn't noticed his father's wink and sarcastic tone.)

Since it wasn't even the first day of school yet, James decided that he'd go easy on the Slytherins, whom his father had told some very nasty stories about (well, actually it was just because James hadn't learned any magic yet, but let's just gloss over that fact). A few Dungbombs and Filibuster Fireworks ought to do the trick.

He hugged his parents and ran up to the Hogwarts Express, darting through the crowd. He hopped inside the train.

There was no time to change or even put down his trunk; James had to prank the Slytherins _now_. Hurriedly, he threw the Cloak over himself and looked down.

"_Wicked!_" James said to himself. His body had disappeared.

He pulled out two bags, one with the dungbombs and one with the fireworks, and started scanning the compartments for Slytherins. There were none in this section of the scarlet train, so James jogged toward the back.

Soon, he came to a closed compartment. The curtains were drawn, so he couldn't look inside. As James reached out to open the compartment, a dark-haired boy skidded to a stop behind him.

The boy couldn't see James, but James could see him. He had black hair almost falling to his shoulders, and light gray eyes, dancing with mischief.

James decided to hold off on his prank to see what this kid would do. The boy put down his trunk and owl, and appraised the cactus-like thing in his hands. He smirked, and opened the compartment.

Sirius's POV:

Sirius put on his 'innocent-terrified-midget-first-year-face' (that he had been practicing ever since Regulus had gotten a mimbulus mimbletonia for his birthday and Sirius had thought of the prank) as he opened the compartment door.

"Can I…can I p-please sit here?" he stuttered quietly to the boys and girls, all wearing Slytherin robes, while discreetly nudging the mimbulus mimbletonia underneath one of the seats with his foot.

They sneered at him. He was related to half the children there, but that didn't stop them from throwing insults at him and shoving him out the door. As the compartment door slammed shut, Sirius could hear mocking laughter from inside.

Sirius turned around, grinning evilly, and picked up his trunk and Appolyon (his owl). It was only a matter of time before some unwitting victim would nudge his or her foot against the mimbulus mimbletonia, and then….

But Sirius's joyous visual was cut short, as the compartment door opened again, seemingly of its own accord! He watched in amazement as two bags appeared out of nowhere and hurled their contents into the room.

_BOOM!_

Sirius peered into the compartment to see chaos. With his professional prankster's eye—and, more importantly, nose—he could tell that Filibuster Fireworks and Dungbombs had been thrown in. They had apparently set off the mimbulus mimbletonia's defense system (Stinksap) and _fused_ with the glop. The results? The entire inside of the compartment was covered in dark, thick, green, _sparking_ liquid.

As Sirius watched, one of the older Slytherins waved his wand, muttering a spell that would get rid of the Stinksap. Nothing happened. The door once again moved of its own accord; this time it shut.

"Incredible," a scholarly voice mused. "The Filibuster Fireworks and Dungbombs must have made the Stinksap resistant to magic."

Sirius jumped, looking around. Behind him, a boy pulled off some kind of cloak, appearing out of nowhere!

"I do believe, my good friend, that we should probably run." The boy announced, as if it was natural for people to just pop up randomly throughout the day. He threw the cloak he had just taken off over both of them, just as the compartment door opened and seven furious Slytherins—all covered in Stinksap—ran out. Their gazes passed right over the two, and after several minutes of arguing (in which Sirius and the other prankster had to clamp their hands over each others' mouths to stifle their laughter—it was bloody hilarious to see the Slytherins yelling "Which way did he go? When I get my hands on him, I'll…" while Sirius was right in front of them) they retreated into the compartment (they were covered in Stinksap, what do you expect—do you think they'd run around the train like that?). Sirius and the other kid ran off, dragging their trunks and owls behind them. Sirius was amazed. He had only known this boy for a few minutes—he didn't even know his name—yet he already felt he had known him all his life.

Peter's POV:

"Hurry, Peter, hurry, you're going to be late!" Mum called, as Peter pushed his way through the crowd of tearful parents waving final goodbyes to their children. He approached the Hogwarts Express, which had just started to move, and heaved his trunk and Artemis's cage onto the train through the only remaining open door. In an undignified scramble, he managed to get onto the train. Turning around, he waved to his parents, then picked up his trunk and Artemis, and set off to find an empty compartment.

Nearly everywhere was full. Peter's search for a compartment with space led him all the way to the back of the train. The last compartment held only one person, a small, pale, sick-looking boy with sandy hair, reading a book.

"Mind if I sit here?" Peter inquired. The boy looked up shyly and said, so quietly it could be counted as a whisper, "No, it's okay."

Peter stashed his trunk in a corner of the compartment and sat across from the boy. "My name's Peter. Peter Pettigrew."

"Remus Lupin"

Remus retreated into his book again. Something about him seemed…off. Peter gazed out the window, daydreaming about what Hogwarts would be like. He was jolted back to reality, however, when the compartment door slammed open and two dark-haired boys tumbled inside. They were shaking with laughter, and they both had the same excited, mischievous glint in their eyes. There also seemed to be a faint whiff of something really stinky hanging over them.

"Hi!" one of the boys gasped. His hair stuck up all over the place, especially in the back, and his glasses were lopsided. "James Potter, nice to meet you."

"Sirius Black." The other boy said, shaking his longish dark hair out of his stormy gray eyes. They both extended their hands. Peter grabbed James's and said, "Peter Pettigrew." Remus tentatively took Sirius's hand, shook it, and let go at once. "I'm Remus Lupin." He retreated once again behind his book, holding it up in front of his face.

James stared at him oddly for a moment, then turned to Sirius. "That was _awesome_!"

"_Yeah!_" Sirius replied, though a bit vaguely. He gazed at Remus in confusion, then turned to Peter, beaming. "Do you know what we just did?"

Remus's POV:

Remus was dumbfounded. In just a few seconds, his quiet compartment had become a madhouse. Sirius and James yelled whenever they talked, and they talked _a lot_. Their conversations ranged from Quidditch to pranks to Hogsmead to pranks to Hogwarts to pranks. Not satisfied with just talking, they seemed to need to attack each other over the slightest disagreement (An example—Sirius: 'Beater is the best position on a Quidditch team.' James: 'Are you mental? Chasers _rule_!' Sirius: 'Chasers are _boring_. You throw a ball in a hoop; what's the big deal?' James: 'Boring?_ Boring?!?!_ You will pay for that, Black!'—and in about two seconds, they're rolling over on the floor, and in five _more_ seconds, they're back on the seats, talking about –yes, you guessed it—pranks). And what was worse, they _stank_. Ordinary humans might smell it as a faint, unidentifiable stink, but to Remus, with his heightened werewolf senses, there was a _stench_ of Stinksap hanging over Sirius and James.

But there was something about them…they were openly friendly and, it seemed, fiercely loyal. Remus would have liked to be friends, but of course, that was impossible. If they found out what he was…

The compartment door slid open again, and this time a small red-haired girl was standing in the doorway. She was crying quietly, though trying to cover it up. Ignoring the boys, she sat next to the window and stared outside. Sirius and Peter spared her a small glance, before returning to their conversation. James, however, looked at her far longer than the others. He seemed to have to tear his gaze away from her, before turning his attention back to the other boys.

Another boy slid open the compartment door and sat opposite the girl. He had black hair, black eyes, and very pale skin.

Remus found the two newcomers to be more interesting than Sirius, James, and Peter at the moment. He tuned out the shouts of the rowdy boys, and listened to the other conversation.

The girl glanced at the boy, then returned her gaze to the window. "I don't want to talk to you." Her voice was tight in a way that told the boy she had been crying.

"Why not?" the boy replied, looking at her in dismay—though she didn't notice; she was still looking out the window.

All of a sudden, the Wolf in Remus noticed something. Normally, Remus was separate from the Wolf, but now, so soon after the full moon, he could sense what the Wolf could. There was a kind of desperation about the boy; as if he was terrified of something, yet needed it as well. Remus had no idea what that meant, but the Wolf could understand that emotion. The boy was in love.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." She sniffed.

"So what?" This had clearly been a mistake on the boy's part.

She looked at him angrily, and he cringed.

"So she's my sister!"

"She's only a" he trailed off; the girl was trying to wipe her eyes and hadn't noticed. In an attempt to cheer her up, the boy said, with the exhilaration evident in his voice, "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Remus understood completely how the boy felt. Hogwarts…it was going to be incredible.

Sirius's POV:

"Okay, so when we get to Hogwarts, our first priority will be to explore. We need to have the entire school—secret ways out, hidden doors, passageways, shortcuts, etc.—memorized by three weeks at the most. Maybe we'll make a map or something…"

"You're going to have the whole castle _memorized_ after _three weeks_?" Peter asked, staring at Sirius as if he were half-crazy, half-brilliant.

" 'Course I will! Any decent prankster has to have at least five ways out of any given situation. They might save your eyebrows one day, you never know…"

"Is there a story behind that last statement?" James inquired, raising an eyebrow expectantly. _Wow! _Sirius thought. _How does he DO that?_ Sirius tried raising one eyebrow. Judging by the looks on James and Peter's faces, he hadn't succeeded.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked him. "Your face is all twisted up."

"Seven, actually." Sirius replied smugly.

"Seven what?" Peter asked, frowning in confusion.

"Seven stories, of course! The third time was the best. I never knew Mum could scream that loud—or that the toast would do _that_. I swear, I didn't _mean_ to burn half the house down! Thank Merlin the toilet was there."

"Don't ask." James muttered as Peter opened his mouth. "I don't want to know."

As Sirius opened his mouth to tell James exactly what he didn't want to know, James suddenly turned to the two newcomers who had been talking quietly this entire time and asked, "Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked as he turned back to Sirius.

Sirius couldn't smile. What if this was where their friendship, so recently formed, was lost? James knew he was a Black, but he couldn't know that Sirius was one of _the_ Blacks--the 'Most Ancient and Noble House' of Black. How would James react? What about Remus and Peter?

Sirius decided to risk it. They were his _friends_. Friends trusted each other and were friends no matter _what_. "My whole family have been in Slytherin." He replied.

James's reaction wasn't what others' would be—he didn't say: 'Oh. Well…' and then not know what to say in he presence of a pureblood snob, he didn't freak out and accuse Sirius of being a dark wizard—no. What James did was attempt a joke.

"Blimey," he said. "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned; his happiness at being accepted-despite his family-too great to express in words, so he just continued the conversation as if what James said was just another sentence. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James replied by lifting an invisible sword and declaring in a deep, confident tone, " 'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!'". His voice resumed its original tone. "Like my dad."

Both of them had forgotten the boy until he sniffed in a way that was filled with contempt. James immediately turned on him. "Got a problem with that?"

The boy, whom Sirius already thought was a git who needed to wash his hair, sneered slightly and said contemptuously, "No. If you'd rather be brawny than brainy"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted. He grinned when James nearly fell off his seat with laughter.

The girl stood up and glared at Sirius and James. "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo…" James and Sirius mocked, starting at exactly the same time and imitating the girl's lofty voice. James stuck out his leg to trip the boy—Severus—_what a dumb name…_Sirius thought. _It sounds like…_

"What was his name? Snivellus?" Peter wondered.

"Yeah! That's perfect!" Sirius exclaimed. "See ya, _Sinvellus_!" he called as the compartment door slammed.

James's POV:

"I _really_ hope neither of them are in my House." Sirius declared. "Not that they will be—it's obvious that both of those gits will be in Slytherin, and I'm _not_ going to be in Slytherin."

"I dunno," James mused. "The girl seemed Gryffindor-ish…." He trailed off.

"What d'you mean?" Sirius asked in bewilderment.

"Well, she was defending her friend…" James trailed off again. The girl's picture wouldn't get out of his head.

"Okay, so she'll be in Hufflepuff." Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure which is worse. No, that's a lie. Hufflepuff is bad, but Slytherin…..Just look at my family to see what Slytherins are like."

James welcomed the change in subject, eager for some reason to get his mind off the girl. "They can't be _that_ bad." He had heard stories about the Blacks, but some of them were absurd, and after meeting someone who was raised by them, James couldn't believe the Blacks were as evil as he had heard.

"Oh yes they can!" Sirius exploded, and then launched into a rant about his 'bloody, prejudiced, Dark-Arts-supporting, muggle-hating, twisted family'. He finished with, "I would have ended up like them if Aunt Andromeda hadn't visited us when I was five and told me how evil my family was. I didn't believe her at first, but she showed me some of her memories of our relatives. She showed me…" he shuddered. "Well, let's just say, after that day…I couldn't look at my parents for a long time. It was horrible."

A silence followed this speech. James wondered what Andromeda had shown her nephew, then looked at Sirius's face and decided that he would rather not know.

"No," a quiet voice stated. It was Remus.

Remus's POV:

Everyone stared at him in shock. It was understandable, of course. This was, what—the third word he had said this entire time? The other two words being his name?

Remus didn't even know why he had said it. The thought had just popped into his head, and before he knew it, it had came out of his mouth.

Sirius looked at him questioningly.

"What I mean," Remus stated nervously, "is that you wouldn't have ended up like them, even if Andromeda hadn't shown you what she did." It was true, too. Remus didn't know how he knew; he just did. The same was true for James. Peter—he wasn't positive, but it was possible.

Sirius smiled. "Thanks." He said simply.

The conversation was more subdued after that. Remus found that it was easier to talk to the others now for some reason, though he still didn't say half as much as Sirius or James did.

Before Remus knew it, it was one o'clock and a plump witch pushing a food cart slid open the compartment door. "Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked, smiling.

There was a whirlwind of movement as Sirius, James, and Peter leapt to their feet. All of them grabbed what seemed to be ten pounds worth of sweets and dumped them on their seats before spinning around to drop a handful each of gleaming coins into the witch's hands.

"What about you, Remus? Don't you want anything?" James asked him.

Remus shook his head; embarrassed. He barely had enough money to buy his school things; there was none to spare for candy. "I'm not hungry." He stated, just as his stomach growled. He blushed and looked down.

James, Sirius, and Peter understood. "Here, you can share." James said kindly, dumping his sweets in a pile between them. Remus opened his mouth to protest when Sirius and Peter both dumped _their_ food onto the seat right on top of James's pile. Then all three of them grabbed something—Sirius a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Peter a Pumpkin Pasty, and James a box of licorice wands—and looked at Remus expectantly, waiting for him to take something.

"I don't think" he started, before Sirius interjected.

"C'mon, Remus, d'you _really_ think we can finish this all?"

Remus looked at Peter, who was already nearly through with his Pumpkin Pasty, and looked back at Sirius. The stubborn expression on his face didn't waver. Remus sighed, knowing that he wouldn't win this battle. It just felt _wrong_ to take their food when he hadn't paid for it. Maybe this was what friends did. With a jolt, Remus realized that they—Sirius, Peter, and James—were his _friends_.

Remus smiled somewhat shyly and took a Chocolate Frog.

Twenty minutes later, Remus was still marveling over how easily he was accepted in the group. It was amazing how good it felt to just sit, talk, and eat candy with his friends—his _friends_.

Sirius's POV:

It seemed like only five minutes had passed since Sirius had gotten on the train before it jerked to a stop. They had arrived.

"Come on!" James cried before running out of the compartment, Peter and Sirius hot on his heels. When they were halfway down the hall, Sirius realized something. Remus wasn't with them.

He turned around—James and Peter, too excited at finally arriving at Hogwarts, didn't notice—and jogged back to the compartment. Remus was standing there, a forlorn look on his face.

"C'mon," Sirius scoffed. "You don't think we'd just leave you behind, do you Remus? You're stuck with us." He smiled, and Remus smiled back, before they walked out of the compartment together and broke into a mad dash.

"James, Peter, wait for us!"

**A/N: wow that was long. Anyways, replies are here. If I get lots of reviews, I'll start replying personally.**

**CurryCurran: Thankee, and as you can see, I have (eventually) continued. You were the first reviewer for this story, and you made me sooo HAPPY! Keep reviewing por favor (that's 'please' in Spanish)**

**Mangalover16: Your review is proof of how weird I am. Three simple words made me dance around for about ten minutes. It just feels so GOOD to get reviews! I would give you cookies, if I could cook (which I can't, so I won't)**

**SemiAngel8: YAY! You read both my fics! And you took the time to review for both of them….GO YOU!!!!!!!!!! Please review again; I'm open on suggestions on what you want to happen in the future.**

**Vikertee: Ah, but you see, MY bunnies are evil robot bunnies that aren't vegetarian. THEY can eat people…wait…robots can't eat. Okay, I lied. Sue me—NO WAIT!! I HAVE NO MONEY!!! **

**But yes, on the other part, I completely agree. The puppies need extra time to develop their feelings n'stuff. Thanks for the review by the way. **

**Truest-of-true-loves: AHA, a critic! I hope this chapter has less of me in it and more of the Marauders, but I'm not sure. Could you quote some lines or something that could use revision—or should be taken out entirely? YES, that means you should review again. I LOVE REVIEWS!!! I'd probably thank someone who flames, just because they REVIEWED!! Well, unless they're a homophobe who hates RemSiri slash, THEN I wouldn't like them.**

**Debzzz: I'm sorry; you kinda waited for a LONG time; I hope you'll review again anyway! I'm so proud, my writing sounds good for a 12-year-old! Maybe it's because I spend half my time reading and half my time writing. Thankyouthankyouthankyou! REVIEW AGAIN OR I SHALL…..hmm…..WRITE A REMUSTONKS FANFIC!!! AHH! The horror!!!**

**Lukie15: Thank you very muchly. I am planning on going through their entire time at school, and maybe, if people like it, I'll go on. But THIS fic is only about 1****st**** year. So, yeah. And I love reviews, soo…..COME ON! HIT THE **BLUE** BUTTON AGAIN! You know you want to……..and thank you again! Byebye now!**


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